With Woods unable to put Nike on
the leaderboard, the sports apparel company has looked elsewhere
for big names for its golf business.

Rory McIlroy seemed like the
brand's savior, with Bloomberg writing an article
headlined"Rory McIlroy Helps Nike Keep
Golf Alive After Tiger"in August 2014. McIlroy had recently become
one of three golfers to win three majors by age 25, when he won
the 2014 Open Championship in July.

"Rory’s performance this summer
has been electrifying," Nike golf president Cindy Davis wrote
Bloomberg in an email at the time. "Nike Golf has a strong stable
of global athletes including two extraordinary talents in Tiger
and Rory. They are the two dominant players in golf who create
the most energy around our sport."

Nike has attempted to build out
its golfer roster, announcing that 14 new golfers signed to the
brand in January, including Brooks Koepka who tied for 4th in the
PGA Championship despite
an ankle injury. However, in July, Charl Schwartzel —
who had been with Nike since 2008 —
made the switch to PXG, a golf equipment company founded by
GoDaddy founder Bob Parson in 2014.

Ultimately, Nike's
current roster of golfers hasn't been able to get
a win in two years — and the apparel company needs a win.

"The golf consumer can smell a
rat," Ryan Kuehl, Under Armour's vice president for sports
marketing and sponsorships,
told Business Insider in March. "We've got to talk like a
golf brand. We've got to act like a golf brand. We've got to
behave like a golf brand. And we have to build products like a
golf brand for us to compete."

Nike can get potentially draw
notoriously loyal golf consumers away from established golf
brands, if the company can produce the results. However, with the
current lack of champions, the shortcomings of
Nike's strategy of relying on a handful of superstars is
becoming apparent.

Right now, it's looking like
Nike's golf business needs to break a curse —
and not just when it comes to winning championships.